I met Hadouken's manager during CMJ and she handed Joanna and I a copy of a new band she's working with called Mission Control from Australia.

I stuck it in my laptop today to give it a listen and was like "um...". It's basically a band that was invented by my brain. Think Love & Rockets meets Psychedelic Furs meets Sisters of MercyPRIMAL SCREAM!!!!!! ... or basically my Manchester in the 90s mix on shuffle.

Check out their video for "Innerspace" which looks exactly like it should:

According to The Secret, if I ask for something, I will get it. It's been working pretty well so far, and so I will ask for something now on my blog:

I would like to get the new G1 Google Android Phone for T-Mobile. I have been kicking around with a Sidekick ID for almost the past year after my Sidekick3 kicked the bucket mysteriously (the backlight refuses to work and I NEVER get calls).

So, if anyone reading this would like to give me a G1 Google Android Phone, I would be really happy. I don't have $350 to pay for it. The only way I could get it for $170 is if I add an additional phone line, which seems really silly.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

I sometimes take the 6 Train to work and have been noticing some kind of odd billboards around the Union Square train station. Initially, I thought that advertising copywriters were just getting more clever and weird. I mean, I'm a little weird myself, so I have a hard time knowing what's actually acceptable to others. But finally, this morning, I walked up to examine one of the posters more closely... this wasn't it, but it was basically the same thing done to the same campaign:Pretty good, right?

I'm sorry, I'm just so fucking obsessed with Living Things' "Let it Rain." My iTunes play counter says I've listened to it 30 times and that doesn't include the amount of times I listened to it on their MySpace and website. Even NYLONmag.com likes it.

Anyone that's been reading this blog for a while knows that I'm very good friends with the Kill Hannah boys. I met Mat Devine when I was an 18 year old virgin with braces that was just simply charmed by the fact that he looked like Adam Ant and wanted to be his bestfriend immediately. It makes me so sad to hear the following news, but I'm so happy that nobody was hurt:

Kill Hannah’s bus caught on fire and burned down over the last couple of hours, going from Bologna, Italy where they played last night to Paris, where they are supposed to play tomorrow. They are in the Swiss Alps, and we have just gotten them to a hotel.

Everyone is out alive and safe...but they’ve lost most of their personal belongings. We have lost passports, etc, but fortunately their cash was in a safe and it survived the fire.

They're are going to have to do emergency passports in Switzerland as they cant leave the country to go to any other part of europe without them, so they will most likely need to cancel Paris and Belgium. The gear in the trailer seems to be all that made it, but we have no idea what else is lost that may be necessary for gigs, etc...

Monday, October 20, 2008

The thing that sucks for people who work and live in NYC during CMJ is that we have to work during CMJ week and then see bands at night/day and then come back into the office the next day. When we go to Austin for SXSW, we go to meetings, we drink bloody mary's, we goof around and see bands and we're don't have to go to a fucking office. It's way better. CMJ is miserable for local music industry folks. I think that the local music industry folk should just get together and say "OK, for 4 days we can get away with not showing up to the office. Shit will still work out." Until then, I shall weep.

On Thursday I'm DJing at Whiskey Blue, so if you need an escape from the madness of CMJ, please come say hi to me. I'll be DJing from 10pm - 2am.

Sadly, this means that the shows that I was going to see on Thursday are basically no longer happening.

I fucking love The Shivers. One sunday afternoon, about a year ago, Brandon and I were heading back home from brunch at the Norwood. We had had such a lovely and splendid afternoon filled with amazing food and bloody marys... and our cold limbs trudged into the F-Train subway station to wait for the subway. There was this dude in a Yankees jacket, hoodie, baseball cap, jeans, sunglasses... he looked strung out or something. It was Keith from The Shivers. He played songs off a keyboard that was mounted on top of a walker that an old man would use. It was almost romantic and sad all at the same time. As the train arrived, he played "Creep" by Radiohead. It was fucking gorgeous. I bought one of his albums right there for $5 and listened to it a bunch.

GO SEE HIM PLAY.

This is him:

Also, I am going to be presenting something called "The Ultragrrrl Report" on FUSE's new show "FUSE On Tour" starting November 9th, and every Sunday after that. Basically, I'm going to be talking about shows I've seen that week, Tour news, and up-and-coming bands that I saw and loved. I'm really fucking excited about this opportunity! I love talking about music and sharing the music I love with people and being on TV. Haha. Watch me!

Monday, October 6, 2008

On Saturday afternoon, I went to Spitzer's Corner with Wyatt to grab a quick brunch. Unfortunately, it took an hour for our food to arrive so I canceled my order, but while waiting for it I glanced to the other side of the restaurant and saw Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel brunching together. I literally gasped and said "OMG! Wyatt!" He replied "I know, I'm friends with them, so make sure I say hi before we leave." Then I glanced over to the couple next to us and they were possibly more gorgeous than Brangelina and spent the rest of the time there creeping on them. When the couple left, our waitress came over and said "Did you guys see who is here?!?!" I replied "Forget about them! Did you see the couple sitting next to us? Genetic perfection! I hope thye make babies immediately."

About 20 minutes later, while we were still waiting for our food, Sarah and Jimmy walked by and Wyatt called out to Sarah. "Do you remember me? It's Wyatt. I cut my hair off." Sarah and Jimmy freaked out -- kind of like I would if I had gone up to them instead of the other way around. "OH MY GOD!!!! WYATTTT!!!!!!!!!!!" They were so cute and affectionate with each other and Sarah introduced herself to me and Wyatt described me as "My super Jewish friend who is dating a Black." Sarah and I talked about the election and being jews and her viral video and then made plans with Wyatt to see him later that night.

This is Wyatt:

Then I went to my boyfriend, David's. We were going to go to Mitsuwa -- the Japanese market in Edgewater, NJ -- but opted to just be lazy and wait for dinnertime. We met up with Gurj, Joanna, Chris Black, and Courtney the Intern at the Vegetarian Dim Sum House... which is too fucking good. David and I went a couple weeks ago and a group of monks walked in and one of them had a Jonas Brothers ringtone on their cell phone.

Then David and Gurj got gellatos.

After making a quick pitstop at Chris Black's apt, I went with David and Joanna to the Mercury Lounge to see Glasvegas. Joanna and I are obsessed with them and managed to work our way up front which is good since we're both midgets. The band were scheduled to go on at 11:30pm, which usually means 12am, but they didnt go on til about 12:20. My legs were in pain, but I got some good photos:

Then David and I went to the SNL afterparty since the Killers played. Dave, Rob W, and the other dude whose name I forgot were at this one table texting furiously the whole night.

On Sunday I went to Brian Battjer's with Mandy stellastarr* and Wyatt to play RockBand2. On our way there we passed by this fantastic mural. It appears as if it's depicting Barak Obama and John McCain.And then this poster of what appears to be Abe Lincoln hybred with Barak Obama... but again, not too sure:

I read Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist this summer and thought "wow, this book is kind of hitting really close to home..." Norah is a jewish 18 year old Lower East Side socialite and intern from Englewood Cliffs, NJ, and the daughter of a record exec. So basically, that's my life if Rob Stevenson was my father. Weird.

Anyway, the soundtrack is out and there's gonna be a give-away tomorrow night at Trainwreck at Angels & Kings and Matt from the Bronx is going to be DJing.

Flyer:And Gurj just twittered that the Twilight soundtrack info has been released. Let's discuss:

Muse — Supermassive Black Hole

Paramore — Decode

The Black Ghosts — Full Moon

Linkin Park — Leave Out All The Rest

MuteMath — Spotlight (Twilight Mix)

Perry Farrell — Going All The Way (Into The Twilight)

Collective Soul — Tremble For My Beloved

Paramore — I Caught Myself

Blue Foundation — Eyes On Fire

Rob Pattinson — Never Think

Iron & Wine — Flightless Bird, American Mouth

Carter Burwell — Bella's Lullaby

I would like to send Stephanie Meyer my Twilight soundtrack, which I think is better, even if it's missing Muse and the gorgeous Rob Pattinson.. and has maybe too many covers on it:

Thursday, October 2, 2008

I'm not sure how many people remember or knew of the band Unbelievable Truth from back in the late 90s. They were fronted by a guy named Andy Yorke, who had a famous brother which often over shadowed their own talents. I remember really loving UT and developing a very shallow acquaintanceship with their drummer Nigel. I really never thought much about them since, until I got an email in my inbox letting me know that Andy -- who had left music to become a Russian translator for Greenpeace -- decided to pick up a guitar again.

About Me

Sarah Lewitinn (born February 3, 1980), also known by her nickname Ultragrrrl, is a music critic, DJ, and blogger. She gained notoriety as an assistant editor at SPIN Magazine.
In 2006, New York magazine named Lewitinn as one of "The Most Influential People in Music", citing that "she has more power than any print music critic".